Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Ben Bishop Has To Be Better

04/17/2015 at 8:21am EDT

from Martin Fennelly of The Tampa Tribune,

The first shot he faced in his Stanley Cup playoff career, nine minutes into the game, got past him. Not really his fault. The fourth shot he faced in his Stanley Cup playoff career, eight seconds into the second period, that beat him, too. Not really his fault. The third one, on the 12th shot, the game-winner, he has to stop. Bad goal.

I’m not saying Ben Bishop lost Game 1 for the Lightning.

But he didn’t win it, either.

He had a lot of company in that regard as his team dropped Game 1 to the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 at Amalie Arena.

Where was That Line, Johnson, Kucherov and Palat? Where was Steve Stamkos? Where was the power play? Where were the Lightning with all those chances?

But you can’t get around the fact that at one point in the third period, the Red Wings had taken 12 shots on Bishop, and three of them had gone in. That’s one out of four.

Reminds us of when John Tortorella lambasted keeper John Grahame after Grahame allowed four goals on 17 shots against Ottawa in an ’06 playoff game, saying he was tired of “the 25 percent rule.”

The bottom line is that the Red Wings gave up 46 shots, more than they did in any game this season, and took only 14, the fewest they’d taken all season — and they won.

continued

added 8:28am, from Tom Jones of The Tampa Bay Times,

Look, it's easy to be discouraged this morning. The Lightning had a fantastic regular season, the best in franchise history. Other than missing defenseman Jason Garrison, the Lightning is healthy again. It was at home, and believe it or not, it felt like a home game with not nearly as many bright red Red Wings jerseys as we've seen here in the past.

Meantime, even though the Red Wings are loaded with playoff experience, they seemed vulnerable, old and shaky. They were starting some kid goalie with no playoff experience in a move that, quite frankly, smacked of desperation.

No wonder the Lightning felt like a heavy favorite not only for Game 1, but for this best-of-seven series.

So, it's true that the Lightning hasn't started these 2015 playoffs the way it expected, but it's no time to panic. This series has just begun, even though Thursday was a cold reminder that nothing ever comes easy in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And if the Lightning plays the rest of this series like it did Thursday night, it will win this series. And it will still win it easily.

Game 1 proved two things. One, the better team doesn't always win. And, two, there is nothing easy this time of year. Not goals, not shifts, not saves, not pieces of real estate on the ice.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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